How to protect the exterior of your house from wood rot during this crazy El Niño season

The normally chipper weathermen and women on the local San Diego news channels having been sounding the drums of war for the last few months. “El Niño is coming!” they’ve cried. And so it has come, drenching San Diego in buckets of rainfall that doesn’t show any sign of letting up. This super storm system (also dubbed “Darth Niño” in the popular press) has been continually compared to the devastating 1997-98 El Niño season that caused floods, mudslides and half-a-billion dollars in damage in California.

By Jeff A. Mudd | Best-Rate Repair

Are you prepared for this year’s El Niño? What about the exterior of your house? Just as a lifetime of sunshine can wear down wood, water can be highly damaging as well, leading to expensive wood rot. Though the rain has already started to fall, you can still take some quick action to protect your home the next time the sun comes out and gives you a few hours of leeway.

Here are three steps you should take ASAP to protect the exterior of your home and prevent wood rot during this severe El Niño season:

Repaint the exterior wood trim of your home

Over time, especially under the normally unrelenting sunshine of California, exterior paint will develop small cracks. This isn’t usually a problem, but there’s nothing usual about this year’s El Niño. These small cracks in the paint on exterior wood trim can allow water to soak into your wood. It’s practically an invitation to wood rot as well as termite invasion. Additionally, when the sun finally does come back out, it will dry out your soggy boards, which could lead to unsightly paint bubbles. Give your exterior wood trim a fresh coat of paint today and keep that water out!

Examine your caulking compound

The normally hot, dry weather of San Diego has a tendency to suck all the moisture out of caulking compound, causing it to shrink and crack. I bet you can guess what will happen when a bunch of rain enters the picture. That’s right, the water will seep right through the openings giving your wood a bath it really doesn’t need. If you notice cracks in your caulking compound, then you’ll need to re-caulk where appropriate. However, this can be tricky. San Diego has already been hit with a bunch of rain. If your wood is already damp, you don’t want to re-caulk and seal in all that moisture. You’ll need to wait until the wood is completely dry before you re-caulk.

Check balcony and deck slopes

Make sure that when rain hits your deck or balcony that it flows away from the walls of your home and into a drainage system. If you notice that patches of your balcony or deck are soggy even after other areas have dried out or if you see standing water, then you’ve got a problem. One quick fix is to pull all of your outdoor furniture and accessories off the deck or balcony so that they don’t trap water or interfere with water flow.

If you suspect wood rot, contact a wood repair company like Best-Rate Repair right away. Our El Niño season is far from over, and if wood rot has set in, it will only get worse if you ignore it! Give us a call today, and we’ll be happy to perform wood rot repairs on your home.